Shahid Khan, Mike Mularkey are 'all in' at Jaguars' fan rally

Wednesday

Jan 18, 2012 at 12:04 AM

Vito Stellino

New Jaguars owner Shahid Khan promised a bright future to an enthusiastic crowd of 6,789 fans during a pep rally at EverBank Field on Tuesday night that was billed as the start of the rebirth of the Jaguars.

"We're going to have a lot of fun together and we're going to win together," Khan told the fans in the South end zone.

He said with every fiber in his body, he is committed to put a winning team on the field and bringing a Super Bowl to Jacksonville and said the fans should hold him accountable.

"There's no doubt Jacksonville has the best fans in the NFL," Khan said.

Check out more photos of the rally

Tony Boselli, the head of Team Teal, hosted the event and new coach Mike Mularkey and general manager Gene Smith spoke along with cornerback Derek Cox and special-teams ace Montell Owens.

Seven other current Jaguars and 10 former Jaguars attended and signed autographs.

The biggest ovation of the night came when defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, who served as interim head coach the last five games, was introduced. He waved to the crowd and his eyes glistened.

There was also a video presentation that featured U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan from Jacksonville.

The festivities included a mustache contest won by 10-year-old Zachary Cronn, who received more cheers with his fake one than some of the adult fans who had actually grown real ones. He won a ball autographed by Khan and two tickets to the opener net year.

Smith introduced Mularkey and said, "He knows offense and he knows how to assemble a strong staff."

Smith said Mularkey will lead them to where they want to go and, "ultimately win a championship for the city of Jacksonville."

Mularkey took the podium and said, "Wow …wow." He added, "I'm excited. I'm really excited to be a part of this organization."

And the Florida native said he's "really excited about being home."

Mularkey said being a consistent winner is very important to him.

"I love to see success," he said. "We're all in this together. We're all in. If you're not all in, you're all out," he said.

Khan said, "I'm all in."

There was a question-and-answer session and Mularkey was asked what changes he plans to bring to the offense.

He said new offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski would bring creativity and deception to the offense, but they would be running the football and the team hopes to win another rushing title. Maurice Jones-Drew was the NFL's leading rusher this season.

Smith was asked about signing wide receivers and he said they would be very aggressive and try to upgrade the offensive weapons.

Khan then chimed in and said, "Gene, Mike: Please do that."

Khan said he wanted to make the game-day experience the best in the NFL and he said that included a better wireless network for fans who want to use social media at the games and more screens with no ads running on them.

He said he wanted the fans to leave the stadium thinking they had a good time even if the team didn't win.

He also said the team would spend to the salary cap, a change from the last few years when the team was generally several million dollars under the cap.

Smith said after the session that middle linebacker Paul Posluszny has undergone shoulder surgery, but they haven't made medical decisions regarding some others, including defensive tackle Tyson Alualu, who might need knee surgery.

vito.stellino@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4279

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